No Tiger, No Phil, No Buzz To Golf's Season Opener

January 04, 2007|By Ed Sherman/Chicago Tribune

KAPALUA, HAWAII — Apparently, paradise just isn't what it used to be.

The PGA Tour's season-opening Mercedes Championship is played at one of the top resorts in the world, on a Plantation Course that has jaw-dropping views at every turn. The players are pampered ridiculously, beyond the typical royal treatment they receive at most tour events. Oh, and you can shoot four 95s and still pocket $50,000.

Yet all those enticements weren't enough to get Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to the first tee today for the beginning of the 2007 season. The tour's biggest stars decided to remain at their own versions of paradise this week, electing not to play.

Woods said he needed more time to gear up for the season. It seems it was difficult to work on his game during the 12 days he spent skiing after winning the Target World Challenge on Dec. 17. Mickelson, who is becoming golf's version of Roger Clemens, hasn't played a tournament since the end of August and won't play until the Bob Hope, which begins Jan. 17.

It is an ominous start to what the PGA Tour had hoped would be a trumpets-blasting opening for its Fed Ex Cup series. The tour desperately wants to build early momentum for a format in which players accumulate points at tournaments throughout the season, climaxing in a four-tournament playoff beginning at the end of August.

Woods and Mickelson rarely play more than three weeks in a row, picking their spots carefully to build toward majors.

Their absence here definitely enhances the anxiety they won't play the entire Fed Ex package of four tournaments. The commitment of Woods (especially) and Mickelson to the season-ending series is vital to its success.

"Is Tiger going to play the last six (out of seven weeks)?" Chris DiMarco said at the Target World Challenge last month. "That's what we have to see. If he's going to play the last six tournaments in a row and our ratings go way up, then it's worth it. There's no doubt everybody out here knows where our bread is buttered. It's Tiger Woods."

For the record, both players said they were excited about the Fed Ex Cup when it was announced last year.

Woods said last month: "I can see myself playing all of them."

Woods made those comments before he announced his wife, Elin, is pregnant. The baby is due this summer.

Ultimately, the PGA Tour is at the mercy of Woods and Mickelson. They are, after all, independent contractors. Both players snubbed the Tour Championship in November, much to the dismay of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem.

Yet there is a question of their responsibility to the PGA Tour. Yes, Woods' success has translated into a financial bonanza for the tour and his fellow players. But the tour gives him a platform to make his millions.

The tour definitely could have used Woods here, considering this isn't just another season-opening tournament. They needed the PR thrust he delivers every time he tees it up.

The PGA Tour is touting the Fed Ex Cup as a "new era for golf." The new era isn't off to a good start. *